Int. J. Mech. Eng. & Rob. Res.

2012

Chandrakant Sagat et al., 2012

ISSN 2278 0149 www.ijmerr.com
Vol. 1, No. 3, October 2012
2012 IJMERR. All Rights Reserved

Research Paper

EXPERIMENTAL AND CFD ANALYSIS

OF AIRFOIL AT LOW REYNOLDS NUMBER
Chandrakant Sagat1*, Pravin Mane1 and B S Gawali1

*Corresponding Author: Chandrakant Sagat, sagat_chandu@rediffmail.com)

The determination of lift and drag of airfoil from wind tunnel measurements is discussed for
incompressible flow. Calculated the upper and lower surface pressure and velocity of an airfoil
is essential for calculating the forces on it. The Effects of model support are neglected. No
simplifying assumptions on the flow along the test section walls are made. The purpose of load
measurements on the model is to make available the forces and moments so that they may be
corrected for tunnel boundary and utilized in predicting the performance of the full-scale vehicle
or other device at different angle of attack from 0o to 20o and at maximum velocity 15 m/s. Airfoil
analysis of the airfoil at low Reynolds no. and comparing experimental results and cfd results.
Keywords: Airfoil, Angle of attack, CFD, Low reynolds no., Wind tunnel

The purpose of load measurements on the

model is to make available the forces and
moments so that they may be corrected for
tunnel boundary and utilized in predicting the
performance of the full-scale vehicle or other
device. Today, every time a new model of an
airplane, automobile or railroad vehicle is
introduced, the structure is designed to be
lighter to attain faster running speed and less
fuel consumption. It is possible to design a
lighter and more efficient product by selecting
lighter materials and making them thinner for
use. But the safety of the product is

INTRODUCTION
Lift and Drag are considered aerodynamic
forces because they exist due to the movement
of the aircraft through the air. The weight pulls
down on the plane opposing the lift created by
air flowing over the wing. Thrust is generated
by the propeller and opposes drag caused by
air resistance to the frontal area of the airplane.
During takeoff, thrust must overcome drag and
lift must overcome the weight before the
airplane can become airborne. In level flight at
constant speed, thrust exactly equals drag and
lift exactly equals the weight or gravity force.
1

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Walchand College of Engineering, Sangli 415146.

277

Int. J. Mech. Eng. & Rob. Res. 2012

Chandrakant Sagat et al., 2012

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

compromised unless the required strength is

maintained. By the same token, if only the
strength is taken into consideration, the weight
of the product increases and the Economic
feasibility is impaired. We are using pressure
distribution method and by using strain gauge
is developed Setup for the measurement of
the lift and drag forces for an airfoil (Jewel,
1999).

Set Up by Using Strain Gauges

The experimental setup is done by using strain
gauges on the cantilever beam (Figures 1 and
2) (Khurmi, 1999).
Deflection of Beam l is equal to

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is

one of the branch of fluid mechanics that uses
numerical methods and algorithm to solve
and analyze problems that involve fluid flow
and heat transfer. CFD is an art of replacing
the integrals or partial derivatives in the
equations governing the fluid flow with
discretized algebraic form, which in turn are
solved to obtain numbers for the flow field in
contrast to a closed form analytical solution
(Anderson, 1995). Using CFD the complex
flow behavior can be clearly visualized, which
will be helpful to redesign and improve the
efficiency of the equipment. Advances in CFD
and its wide applications are proving for its
stability. Hence CFD technique can be
applied for analysis lift force and drag force
over the testing model.

wl
3EI

...(1)

Moment of the inertia for rectangle

l

bd 3
12

...(2)

Pressure Coefficient (Gordon, 1987).

At any point in the flow where the local
pressure coefficient Cp is defined as
Cp

p patm
1
U 2
2

...(3)

Figure 2: Photograph
of the Cantilever Beam With Setup

Figure 1: Cantilever Beam

Load at Free End

278

Int. J. Mech. Eng. & Rob. Res. 2012

Chandrakant Sagat et al., 2012

Setup by Pressure Distribution

Method

Coefficient of Drag force

FD

The Total or Stagnation Upstream Pressure PT

as Measured by an impact probe (e.g., a Pitot
tube) is the sum of the static and dynamic
pressure at that point i.e.,

1
U 2
2

...(8)

Wind Tunnel Testing of an Airfoil

A rectangular wing airfoil model having chord
length 252 mm, span 227 mm and aspect ratio
0.9 used for measurement of pressure
distribution over upper and lower surface. The
pressure tapings were made along the
chamber line with successive percentage of
chord length (Schneemann et al., 2010).Small
holes were drilled with 1/64" drill in a direction
perpendicular to the surface and up to camber
line of airfoil. From bottom surface drills of 1/
16" were drilled to match with the above holes.
The pressure tapings and tap numbers on
aerofoil are as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 3: Geometric and Dynamic

Parameters of Airfoils

PT P

1
2CD A
2

...(4)

Figure 4: Aerofoil and Pressure Tapings

Thus, CP may also be written in terms of the

differential pressures
CP

P P
PT P

...(5)
Tygon tubes are inserted in these tap holes
for measurement of gauge pressure by
connecting with multi-tube manometer.

The presence of the airfoil in the test section

will affect the test section velocity, e.g., at a
150 angle of attack the local velocity over the
airfoil will increase to about 1.02 times the
upstream. The lift force is customarily
expressed as a dimensionless lift coefficient
per unit span length.

Table 1: Aerofoil Surface Coordinates

Coefficient of Lift Force

CL

CL

2L
U 2 bc

...(7)

s pi p sin ds
1
U2 c
2

...(8)

279

Tap

X/C

Number

(%)

Surface Y/C (%)

Upper

Lower

Leading Edge

0.0

8.00

7.0

Point 1 and 7

4.0

10.80

4.0

Point 2 and 8

8.0

12.00

3.0

Point 3 and 9

24.0

14.80

0.9

Point 4 and 10

49.2

14.60

1.0

Point 5 and 11

68.8

11.20

2.3

Point 6 and 12

82.0

10.10

3.9

Trailing Edge

100.0

7.20

7.1

Int. J. Mech. Eng. & Rob. Res. 2012

Chandrakant Sagat et al., 2012

EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS

Figure 7: Coefficient of Pressure

on Lower Surface at Velocity 15 m/s
at Various Angle of Attack 0 to 20 Degree

Results for the Coefficient

of Pressure
Coefficient of pressure at velocity 15 m/s
at various Angle Of Attack 0 to 20 Degree.
Results for velocity ratio V/Vinfinity for
velocity at 15 m/s.
Figure 5: Coefficient of Pressure
at Velocity 15 m/s at Various Angle
of Attack 0 to 20 Degree

Figure 8: Velocity Ratio vs. X/C

Location of an Airfoil

Figure 6: Coefficient of Pressure

on Upper Surface at Velocity 15 m/s
at Various Angle of Attack 0 to 20 Degree
Figure 9: Shows the Velocity Ratio
at Upper Surface of an Airfoil

280

Int. J. Mech. Eng. & Rob. Res. 2012

Chandrakant Sagat et al., 2012

Figure 10: Shows the Velocity Ratio

at Lower Surface of an Airfoil

Figure 13: Shows that Pressure

Distribution Over the Airfoil at Velocity
12 M/S Angle of Attack 10 Degree
Contours of Dynamic Pressure (Pascal)

Figure 11: Shows the Coeff. of Lift, Coeff.

of Drag and Coeffi. of Moment
vs. X/C Location of an Airfoil

Figure 14: Shows that Pressure

Distribution Over the Airfoil at Velocity
12 M/S Angle of Attack 10 Degree
Contours of Total Pressure (Pascal)

RESULTS OF CFD ANALYSIS

(VIJAY KORE, 2011)
Figure 12: Shows that Pressure
Distribution Over the Airfoil at Velocity
12 m/s Angle of Attack 10 Degree
Contours of Static Pressure (Pascal)

Figure 15: Shows that Velocity

Distribution Over the Airfoil at Velocity
12 M/S Angle of Attack 10 Degree
Contours of Velocity Magnitude (M/S)

281

Int. J. Mech. Eng. & Rob. Res. 2012

Chandrakant Sagat et al., 2012

The results demonstrate the pressure

distribution over the airfoil. The pressure on the
lower surface of the airfoil is greater than that of
the incoming flow stream and as a result of that
it effectively pushes the airfoil upward, normal
to the incoming flow stream. On the other hand,
the components of the pressure distribution
parallel to the incoming flow stream tend to slow
the velocity of the incoming flow relative to the
airfoil, as do the viscous stresses.

Figure 16: Shows that Contours

of Pressure Coefficient Over the Airfoil
at Velocity 12 M/S Angle
of Attack 10 Degree

The Coefficient of lift and coefficient of drag

of an airfoil is depends upon the pressure
distribution and velocity distribution of an
airfoil.

REFERENCES

Figure 17: Shows the Velocity Vector

Diagram at Velocity 12 M/S at Angle
of Attack 10 Degree

1. Anderson John D (1995), Computational

Fluid Dynamics, Basics with Applications,
McGraw Hill Publications, ISBN 0-07113210-4.
2. FLUENT 6.3.26 (2006), Tutorial Guide.
3. Gordon C Oates University of Washington
Seattle, Aerothermo dynamics of Gas
Turbine and Rocket Propulsion, Third
Edition Book, Washington.
4. Jewel B Barlow, William H Rae and Jr.
Alan Pope (1999), Low Speed Wind
Tunnel Testing, Book Wiley India Pvt. Ltd.
5. Jorge Schneemann, Pascal Knebel,
Patrick Milan and Joachim Peinke
(2010), Lift Measurements in Unsteady
Flow Conditions.EWEC - European wind
Energy Conference, Warsaw.

CONCLUSION
The coefficient of pressure is analyzed in the
upper and lower surface of the airfoil for the
angle of attack varies from 0 to 10. The
results showed that the upper surface has
lower negative coefficient of pressure at higher
angle of attack and lower surface has lower
negative coefficient of pressure at lower angle
of attack.

6. Khurmi R S (1999), Strength of Material,

Book.
7. Vijay Kore (2011), Performance Analysis
and Simulation of an Axial Fan, M.Tech.
Thesis 2011.
282

Int. J. Mech. Eng. & Rob. Res. 2012

Chandrakant Sagat et al., 2012

APPENDIX
Abbreviations and Acronyms
C

Chord

Span

Velocity

Cd

Coefficient of Drag

Cl

Coefficient of Lift

CP

Coefficient of Pressure

Lift

Drag

Re

Reynolds Number

Free Stream Velocity

Angle of Attack

Density

283